


what the stars can see

by theheartsclub



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, just two boys in love, starts sad but i PROMISE it gets soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 04:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15135314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theheartsclub/pseuds/theheartsclub
Summary: things you said under the stars and in the grassalternatively: things get tough when a killer clown attacks you and all your friends, but stan and bill will always find their sanctuaries





	what the stars can see

It’s been three years. Three years since the murder. Three years since the clown. Three years since a day has gone by that Bill hasn’t had to remind himself that he isn’t crazy. That this actually happened.

It was getting better. He’s able to sleep without discomfort most nights now. He’s even begun to close the door to Georgie’s bedroom when he passes it, rather than stepping inside.

That didn’t mean that there weren’t still bad nights. Nights where Bill couldn’t even begin to slip into slumber. Voices and horrifying imagery that he didn’t want to think might actually be memories rather than just nightmares. It was comforting to think that this all might just be something he made up in his head.

Tonight was one of those nights. Bill couldn’t sleep. How could he be expected to when everything he saw when he closed his eyes was easily worse than anything found in the darkness of his bedroom. Maybe a glass of water was all he needed. This is what landed him in a worse position than the one in which he started.

**————————————————**

“Stan?” he breathes into the phone, clutching the receiver with sweaty palms. “Are you there?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m here, Bill. Are you okay?” Stan asks. His voice is foggy with sleep, but it’s also coated with concern.

“C-can you m-m-meet me at t-th-the qu-quarry? Like, as s-soon as p-p-possible?”

“Um, yeah. Is everything alright?” Stan’s tone is a bit more serious now. More awake. 

“Just- c-can you b-b-be there soon?”

“Bill.”

“Stan. P-please.”

The desperation in Bill’s voice was enough to convince Stan. “Give me ten minutes. I’ll be there.”

Bill didn’t even reply, he just hung up. Stan wasn’t upset by that, he understood. He used this time to make sure he was being as quiet as he could on his way to the garage to find his bike in the darkness. 

**————————————————**

When Stan pulled through the thick brush of the trees he could see Bill sitting where he already knew that he would be. A hunched over figure in the grass only lit up by the portion of the moon that wasn’t covered by trees. 

He gently approached, careful to not startle Bill in any way. He knew things weren’t great right now.

Thankfully, Bill turned around with only a small jump. “Stan,” he breathes a sigh of relief. “You m-made it.”

“I made it,” Stan replies with a hint of a smile as he sits beside Bill. His brain is telling him he could continue speaking, fill the silence that’s engulfing them, but there isn’t much more to say. With anyone else he might ask what’s wrong, but Bill will tell him. With time, Bill always tells him.

“I h-heard h-him,” Bill says just above a whisper after the silence continues for what must have been a few more minutes.

Stan knows what he’s talking about. He knows exactly what Bill means by that, yet something still compels him to ask. It’s like he’s hoping that maybe just this once, he’ll get a different answer. “You heard who? Where?”

“G-g-georgie,” Bill answers. The name he never used to have trouble with has become the hardest for him to say. He knows the routine by this point. “In h-his b-bedroom. I g-got up a-and wh-when I p-p-passed his b-bedroom I c-could h-hear h-him talking.”

Stan only nods. He barely noticed that his hand had moved from the ground to Bill’s lower back, gently rubbing circles there.

Normally, Bill would be crying. He would be a few words in before the tears would fall. Maybe it would start before he could even get them out. Tonight, he was stone faced. He just looked tired, like he wanted all of this to be over. 

He thought it ended years ago, they all did, but it never truly left any of them. 

“I kn-know it w-w-wasn’t him. I’m-m not s-st-stupid. I j-just w-wish I w-was al-allowed to m-move on.”

Stan nods again, this time because he feels the same way. Not to this extremity, but he’s still haunted by the memories as well. But Bill, he’s never been allowed to mourn the loss that won’t leave him.

“I m-miss him, Stan,” Bill whispers behind a choked sob. Now the tears begin to fall. “I w-want him b-back. I t-try to pretend l-like I’m ok-kay now, b-but I w-would d-do anything t-to have h-him back.”

“I know,” Stan says in a gentle whisper, sliding his hand so it curves around Bill’s waist, holding him close now. Bill’s tight stature softens as he folds into Stan’s body, pressing his face into his shoulder.

They stay like this for a while. Bill quietly sobbing into Stan’s now tear soaked shirt as Stan holds him close, whispering reassurances against his hair. It isn’t until Bill’s breathing regains some normalcy that Stan speaks again.

“Lay down. It’ll help.”

Bill doesn’t question it, he just does as Stan suggests.

“Now look up at the stars,” Stan adds, gently taking Bill’s hand into his own once the grass is tickling their ears. “Take a deep breath.”

Once again, Bill obeys. He feels safer this way, like for once he isn’t in the driver’s seat.

Stan uses his free hand to point up at the sky. “See that star? The extra bright one right there. You see it?” When Bill nods he continues. “Listen, you know I’m not much for that whole fate karma whatnot stuff. If it’s not proven in a textbook I’m not a fan, but this is different. That star, that’s for us. Just you and me. At times like these I always see it. I know it’s the same one because it’s the brightest one out there. I don’t know what it means, or where it came from, but I know it exists for us. It always makes me feel safer, a little less alone. When I’m home and we aren’t together, I always look for that star and when I find it, I remember you’ve got the same one looking over you. I always feel better.”

When there’s a moment of silence Stan begins to wait for Bill to make fun of him. To tell him that’s silly or childish, but when Stan looks over, Bill’s smiling. The type of smile that couldn’t just be faked out of sympathy.

“I love you, Stan. You know that?” he whispers.

Stan returns the smile as he gives Bill’s hand a squeeze. “I know, and so do the stars. They know I love you too.” 

Bill even laughs at that. Not that there was anything funny. The type of gleeful laugh, like your body needs a way to release the happiness inside.

Stan laughs too. Then after they both fall into silence again, he whispers, “I think it shines brighter when we’re together.”

“I think so too.”

 


End file.
